


Something For Ourselves

by msmaj



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-26
Updated: 2017-12-26
Packaged: 2019-02-21 21:35:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,305
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13152501
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/msmaj/pseuds/msmaj
Summary: Happy Christmas to all, but especially to heatherkw, this is for you! Hope you enjoy :)





	Something For Ourselves

**Author's Note:**

  * For [heatherkw](https://archiveofourown.org/users/heatherkw/gifts).



Snow. The bane of holiday travel. Currently the bane of Betty Cooper’s entire existence.

And not just snow.

He’d said it. The one word that would ruin everything.

Nor’easter.

That stupid contraction that set to topple every single well-laid plan Betty had made for the next three days. Well, to be fair, they were mostly her mother’s plans. But for the first time in the six years they’d been together, Jughead was coming home with her. 

Not that they didn’t travel together for the holidays every year, they did, but they’d spend Christmas Eve and morning with their respective families before meeting up at the Andrews later on Christmas day. This year, however, Jellybean had decided to spend her break with some friends in Aspen rather trek back to Riverdale. Because of this, FP also absconded, deigning his bones couldn’t take another year of the cold. He’d packed up all he could on his bike back in October and took off for sunnier skies. 

She can still remember the look on Jughead’s face when he’d told her; lying on their bed, flannel-clad arm slung across his eyes, as he tried desperately not to let the hurt shine through. He’d talked about staying in the city, spending Christmas alone. And the fact that he hadn’t even thought she’d want to ask him to come with her, stung quite a bit more than she’d wanted to admit. 

Finally, Betty had convinced him to come. Apparently, her enthusiasm for gingerbread building contests was enough to sway even the most disparate cynic. Or maybe it was when she’d admitted that she’d always wanted him with her. That even though they’d been living together for nearly three years, it wasn’t quite enough; that as crazy and manic and downright unpleasant as it could be with Alice Cooper at the helm, she wanted nothing more than for Jughead to dive into the fray with her. 

“Betts?” Jughead placed his hand on her shoulder, catching the collar of her shirt between his thumb and forefinger. She felt the familiar tug as her eyes sought his, her lower lip nervously sucked between her teeth.

“Maybe it’s just a delay! I mean, my mom won’t be happy that she’ll have to push the candy-construction extravaganza back a few hours, but if we can get in at some point tonight…”

Jughead crooked his head to the side, an errant curl falling across his forehead as a sad smile tugged at the corner of his lips. “Babe, I don’t think we’re going anywhere tonight,” he pulled the phone from his back pocket, grimaced at the screen and set in down on the coffee table next to them. “Or, in the foreseeable future from the looks of the forecast.”

“It’s so unfair, Juggie!” Betty felt herself deflate. “Sure, I wanted a white Christmas, but I wanted to be in Riverdale to enjoy it!” Jughead chuckled and dropped the hand that was still playing with the collar of Betty’s shirt. She couldn’t help the pout that seemed to overtake her face, but it was Christmas Eve dammit, and as the shrill ring of her phone cut through the room, she remembered the worst was yet to come.

Jughead leaned forward, placing a gentle kiss on Betty’s forehead as the ringing started again. She watched him disappear behind the wall that separated their living room from their kitchen and heard the tell-tale signs of coffee being made. Smiling ever so slightly, Betty took a deep breath before answering her phone to the onslaught of questions lobbed by her mother.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“How’d she take it?” Jughead asked, leaning against the counter as he held the steaming cup to his lips. Betty’s head dropped forward, blonde hair dancing around her as it shook back and forth.

“Somehow, it’s your fault,” she crossed the few feet between them, grabbing her own festively emblazoned mug from the cupboard and filling it with the hot brew. Now standing next to him, she looked up to see the annoyance play across his face.

“Ah, yes, I can control the weather. And clearly it’s in my best interest to keep their youngest daughter away from family frivolities.”

Betty rolled her eyes as she made her way out of the kitchen and back to the living room. “Because you should care about being in their good graces. Jug, she didn’t care that we’re supposed to see unprecedented amounts of snowfall, she cared that she now had two extra gingerbread house kits and how long tomorrow they’d have to wait for us to try and arrive before they got on with their holiday.”

“That Alice really is a peach.” Jughead sat down on the couch next to her, placing his free hand on her knee and making gentle circles with his thumb. “Is that all she said?”

Betty’s silence was answer enough for him. “But that’s all that bears repeating,” she turned on the couch to face him, the worn floral jacquard scratching through her leggings. The cup twisted nervously between her palms, coffee sloshing up to the brim, never spilling over but forcing his attention to it and away from her face. 

“Betty,” his hand slid from her leg to her hands, stilling the cup and the agitation that threatened to spill over. “Is it just about Christmas?”

Her head shook slightly. 

“What’d she say this time?”

She felt his hand slide off of hers and in her periphery, could see the clenching of his jaw and the way his eyes squeezed shut, just a little tighter than usual. “No, Jughead. Whatever she says, doesn’t matter. I don’t care that the Cooper Christmas streak has been broken, I’m not upset that we won’t be there for Christmas Eve. I mean, I am, but that’s only because I finally got to share it with you.”

“Betts…"

“I knew you were upset, about your dad, and JB taking off for Christmas even if you didn’t say it in so many words. So I wanted to make this special for you. Remind you that you’ve got more family than you know.”

Betty set her cup down on the table and felt him shift beside her, when she turned back he was already off the couch and turning down the hall to their bedroom. She sighed. Pushing herself from the sofa she padded down the hall and stopped in the doorway of their room. She watched as he rifled through his bag before turning back to her and holding out a pair of pajamas adorned with Santa-hatted llamas.

“Put these on.”

“Jughead?” He crossed the room and put them in her hands.

“Betty, please don’t make this awkward and pretend like you didn’t get me something with penguins or jingle-bells,” When she couldn’t help the blush that crept up her cheeks, she laughed, stretching on tiptoe to place a gentle kiss on Jughead’s cheek. She had, in fact, bought him pajamas. And when she handed him the t-rex printed flannel set, she actually saw him smile. 

“What are we doing, Jug?” He slipped his hand under her chin and tilted it up toward his face, before his lips covered hers, slowly, deeply. 

“Our flight is effectively canceled. Nothing is getting in, or out, until tomorrow morning at the earliest,” he pulled away slightly before putting his lips to hers again. “So put those on and meet me in the living room in five.” He kissed her just about breathless again before slinking out of the room. 

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Alright Mister Jones,” Betty sashayed into the space in her new llama jammies and the warmest, fuzziest socks she owned. “Now what?” 

Jughead smiled warmly as he beckoned her to join him on the couch. “I know missing Christmas is a big deal. Not just because your mom will use it against you for years to come, but because it means so much to you. Because your family means so much to you. The fact that you consider me family too, Betty, is just something that never ceases to amaze me.”

“Juggie,” she tried to interrupt but he pulled her into his lap instead. Immediately her arms snaked around his neck as his came to settle around her waist.

“While getting caught in a blizzard isn’t exactly my idea of a good time, we’re home, in our apartment and we’re still together. So it’s still a Christmas of firsts, and maybe, I don’t know we’ll find something tonight that we can carry forward, into future Christmas Eves.” 

Betty could feel the smile that threatened to take over her face. If she could bottle the warmth she felt radiating from him, or somehow contain that particular sparkle in his blue eyes whenever he nervously mentioned their futures, just for those days when his self-deprecation and anxiety threatened to overtake him, just to remind him those feelings are reciprocated. “A tradition of our own,” she leaned forward and captured his lips with hers. “We’ve got out pajamas, what else did you have in mind?”

Jughead leaned his head against the cushion while Betty’s fingers played with the hair at the nape of his neck. “I know you’re not particularly fond of the horror genre, but, there are a plethora of cross-marketing delights in the holiday horror subgenre. I can almost guarantee you that not one of these films will be actually scary, and will still technically fill the quota for thematic film consumption.”

“You want to watch scary Christmas movies?” She questioned playfully. There really wasn’t a whole lot she wouldn’t do for this man. It had been a long road getting to where they were. It likely wouldn’t all be rainbows and butterflies from that point on either. So if he wants to spend Christmas Eve in his pj’s, watching horrible films, damn right you’re going to find Betty Cooper curled up by his side. “Well what are we going to eat? We don’t exactly have lots of food at the ready considering we aren’t supposed to be here.” 

Betty watched Jughead’s Adam’s apple bob in his throat heavily. Clearly, he hadn’t thought about food. She had to bite back the laugh that threatened when his stomach seemed to gurgle on cue. “I’ll go see what I can whip up; you pick out something awful.” 

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Twenty minutes later she came back with the fixings of a hearty breakfast. Bacon, eggs, toast, fresh coffee…all the things that had eaten for actual breakfast just a few hours before. Jughead took the plates from her hands and set them on the table before excitedly turning back to the television.

“You will not believe what I’ve found for us. It looks like it might just be the worst movie ever made,” Jughead said proudly as he shoved a slice of bacon into his mouth.  
Betty’s eyes flickered to the screen before she looked up confused. “Wasn’t Jack Frost a children’s movie?”

“Well, yes, but that’s not what this is. This is cheesy, nineties, horror glory!” 

“Someone’s excited,” she noticed his giddiness turned sheepish in an instant. “How long have you wanted to do this, Jug?”

“What, Christmas-horror-thon?” Betty nodded, obviously. “Well it was something I always wanted to do with Jelly, I guess, but that never happened. I guess it’s just been in the back of my mind ever since.” He rubbed the back of his neck as he settled into the corner of the couch.

“Thank you.” Betty said softly as she set her plate on the table and scuttled up the couch to be closer to him.

“For what, baby?” Her head laid on his chest as his fingers began to weave through her hair.

“For sharing it with me. For wanting to make this, ours.” She felt his lips press on the crown of her head as a contended sigh rose out of her. Once he’d assured she was comfortable, he pressed play on what would become the first of many horrible films consumed on Christmas Eve.

They managed to get through Jack Frost with no less than three what the fucks, five instances of uproarious laughter, and two, stop and go back we have to re-watch that’s.

“What did we just watch? Did that really just happen?” Betty said, still laughing as the credits rolled. 

“Ninety minutes of your life you wish you could have back?” Jughead asked as he stretched, sinking deeper into the couch and bringing Betty with him. 

“No,” she replied, smiling softly and tracing the curve of his jaw with her fingers. “As terrible as that was, and it really, really was, I was with you. It doesn’t get much better than that Jughead Jones.”

“So, think we have a contender for Christmas Eve? Or is our impromptu movie night a one-and-done?” 

“I think, that the only way tonight could have been better is if we’d have had real food. I dig the breakfast idea, don’t get me wrong, but I’m thinking next year we do crepes or maybe cinnamon rolls…” before she could name another food Jughead’s mouth was on hers, hands tangled in her hair, body pulled flush against his. 

“This is the best present I have ever gotten. I love you, Betty Cooper.” She managed to untangle herself from his arms and pulled herself off the couch. She stood in front of him, tired, hair haphazardly in a bun atop her head, no make-up and never looking more beautiful. 

“Jughead Jones, I love you. Let’s go get into bed, and I can show you the other present you’ll be thankful we’re not in my parent’s house for.” With a wink, she turned and headed down the hallway. She hadn't gotten but three steps in when strong arms circled her from behind and the voice in her ear whispered, 

“Best Christmas ever.” 

She had never been more inclined to agree.

**Author's Note:**

> Happy Christmas to all, but especially to heatherkw, this is for you! Hope you enjoy :)


End file.
